Israel urges pressure on Iran over nuclear activity

Israel called on European nations to join the US in pressuring Iran on Thursday over its renewed uranium enrichment and what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu calls a secret atomic warehouse.

Iran resumed uranium enrichment at its underground Fordow plant south of Tehran Thursday in the latest step back from commitments under a landmark 2015 nuclear deal.

"Iran continues to conceal its nuclear programme," Netanyahu said in a statement on his country's arch-foe.

"Iran also continues uranium enrichment, whose sole purpose is the production of nuclear weapons. I urge the international community to wake up."

A US official said Thursday testing by the United Nations nuclear watchdog confirmed uranium traces at a separate warehouse Netanyahu spoke of during an address to the UN General Assembly in 2018.

Iran ridiculed the claim at the time and has always said its nuclear activity is for civilian purposes only.

Diplomatic sources in Vienna say the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency took samples from the site in the Turquzabad district of Tehran in the spring.

The Iranians' responses to the IAEA have not resolved all of the agency's questions, the sources said.

A European diplomatic source on Thursday said radioactive material was detected at the site and could have been stored there while in transit to another hitherto concealed facility south of the city of Isfahan.

"Efforts are being to made to gain access" to this second site, the source said.

Israeli security and intelligence officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, say the warehouse held nuclear material and equipment from 2009 to 2018, when -- these sources say -- Iran decontaminated the site.

They allege the undeclared site amounts to a violation of the Non-Proliferation Treaty against the spread of nuclear weapons.

They also argue it points to other undeclared sites, contending the material must have been moved elsewhere and the uranium processed at a separate location.

Israel opposed the 2015 nuclear deal and urged US President Donald Trump to withdraw from it, which he eventually did, arguing it does not do enough to prevent Tehran from eventually obtaining nuclear weapons.

Netanyahu also argues the lifting of sanctions as per the deal allowed Iran to finance proxy militant groups in the Middle East.

But at the time when Trump withdrew from the deal in 2018, most world powers said the accord was working as intended and was the best way to keep Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapons capability.

In April 2018, Netanyahu said in a live television address that Israel had obtained a trove of nuclear files from Iran in an intelligence operation.

He said they spelt out "proof" of an Iranian nuclear weapons plan that could be activated at any time.

But while he accused Iran of lying about its nuclear ambitions, he did not provide evidence that it had actively worked to obtain an atomic weapon since the 2015 nuclear accord.

EU voices 'deep concern' over Iran nuclear inspector incident
Vienna (AFP) Nov 7, 2019 - The EU said Thursday it was "deeply concerned" by an incident involving an inspector with the UN's nuclear watchdog last week in Iran which led to her having her accreditation cancelled.

In a statement delivered to a special meeting of the governing body of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), an EU representative said: "The EU is... deeply concerned by the incident concerning one IAEA inspector."

"We understand that the incident was resolved and call upon Iran to ensure that no such incidents occur in the future," the statement said.

Reiterating the European Union's "full confidence in the inspectorate's professionalism and impartiality", the statement called "upon Iran to ensure that IAEA inspectors can perform their duties in line with its legally binding safeguards agreement".

Iran said Thursday it had cancelled the inspector's accreditation after she triggered an alarm last week at the entrance to the Natanz uranium enrichment plant.

The alarm during a check at the entrance gate to the plant in central Iran had raised concerns that she could be carrying a "suspect product" on her, the Iranian Atomic Energy Organisation said in a statement posted online.

As a result, she was denied entry, it added, without specifying whether or not anything had been found in her possession.

Iran's ambassador to the IAEA Kazem Gharib Abadi told reporters after the meeting in Vienna that the woman "sneaked out" to the bathroom while waiting for a more thorough inspection after setting off the alarms on October 28 during a routine check, using a special chemical detector that can find a range of explosive materials containing nitrates.

After her return, the alarms did not go off again, but authorities found contamination in the bathroom and later on her empty handbag during a house search.

Iran said IAEA officials were present for all the searches.

The woman left Iran on October 30, Gharib Abadi said, after what he described as her "hasty summoning" back to Vienna.

"Due to the nature of incident, Iran officially has asked the agency to remove her name from the list of designated inspectors," Gharib Abadi said, adding Tehran "cannot condone any behaviour or action which may be against the safety and security of its nuclear installations".

Iran has been progressively scaling back its commitments under a landmark 2015 deal aimed at reining in Tehran's nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief.

The US left the agreement last year and re-imposed sanctions, leaving remaining world powers to the deal -- Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia -- trying to save the agreement and mitigate the sanctions.

The IAEA, which has not publicly commented on the incident with the inspector so far, monitors the deal's implementation.

The US said in a statement to the IAEA that the inspector's "detention" was an "outrageous provocation".

"All board members need to make clear now and going forward that such actions are completely unacceptable, will not be tolerated, and must have consequences," US ambassador to the IAEA Jackie Wolcott said.

Gharib Abadi has denied the inspector was ever detained, saying she was allowed to leave the country despite ongoing investigations into the incident.

Related Links
Learn about nuclear weapons doctrine and defense at SpaceWar.com
Learn about missile defense at SpaceWar.com
All about missiles at SpaceWar.com
Learn about the Superpowers of the 21st Century at SpaceWar.com

Tweet

Thanks for being there;
We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain.

With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords.

Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year.

If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.

SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter
$5+ Billed Monthly

paypal only

SpaceDaily Contributor
$5 Billed Once

credit card or paypal

Iran says to start enriching uranium at midnight
Tehran (AFP) Nov 6, 2019
Iran announced Wednesday another step towards reducing its obligations under the 2015 nuclear deal, sparking concern by some of the remaining parties to the troubled agreement. Iran's atomic energy agency said its Fordow plant would begin enriching uranium from midnight (2030 GMT). "In the coming hours, the process of injecting (uranium hexafluoride) gas into the centrifuges at the Fordow site will be finalised," said agency spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi, quoted in the semi-official news agency I ... read more